October 18, 2018

The Australian Turf Club has begun work on a new Polytrack training circuit at Royal Randwick as part of a further upgrade of training infrastructure for Sydney racing.

Work on the new Polytrack surface started this week, immediately after the $13 million TAB Everest meeting, and weather permitting is scheduled for completion before the end of 2018.

The new Polytrack will be built in place of the existing dirt track and will be 13.5m wide and almost 2000m in circumference.

Once the Polytrack is complete and operational, Australian Turf Club will start work in early 2019 on a separate sand track upgrade.

Australian Turf Club Executive General Manager of Racing James Heddo said the Royal Randwick upgrades were another stage of a long-term strategy to improve Sydney’s training infrastructure across all venues.

“An all-weather Polytrack at Royal Randwick and further work on the sand track will be of great benefit to trainers all year round and especially during wetter periods,” Mr Heddo said.

“Once complete at Royal Randwick, all four of Sydney’s racecourses including Warwick Farm, Rosehill Gardens and Canterbury Park will have an all-weather synthetic surface for training and gallops.”

Fresh from their second success in the world’s richest race on turf, Saturday’s $13 million TAB Everest, trainer Peter Snowden and champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy both praised the benefits of training on a Polytrack.

A short video with comments from both can be viewed here: